Massive Young Stellar Objects in the Galactic Center. II. Seeing Through the Ice-rich Envelopes

TL;DR

This study uses near-infrared spectroscopy to analyze interstellar ices in the Galactic Center, revealing low star formation activity and the composition of ice-rich environments around young stellar objects.

Contribution

It provides new insights into the composition and distribution of ices in the Central Molecular Zone and links ice features to star formation activity.

Findings

Most sources are red giants with CO absorption.

A small fraction shows significant H2O and CH3OH ice absorption.

Evidence suggests low star formation rate in the CMZ.

Abstract

To study the demographics of interstellar ices in the Central Molecular Zone (CMZ) of the Milky Way, we obtain near-infrared spectra of $109$ red point sources using NASA IRTF/SpeX at Maunakea. We select the sample from near- and mid-infrared photometry, including $12$ objects in the previous paper of this series, to ensure that these sources trace a large amount of absorption through clouds in each line of sight. We find that most of the sample ($100$ objects) show CO band-head absorption at $2.3\ \mu$m, tagging them as red (super-) giants. Despite the photospheric signature, however, a fraction of the sample with $L$-band spectra ($9/82=0.11$) exhibit large H$_2$O ice column densities ($N > 2\times10^{18}\ {\rm cm}^{-2}$), and six of them also reveal CH$_3$OH ice absorption. As one of such objects is identified as a young stellar object (YSO) in our previous work, these ice-rich sight lines are likely associated with background stars in projection to an extended envelope of a YSO or a dense cloud core. The low frequency of such objects in the early stage of stellar evolution implies a low star-formation rate ($<0.02\ M_\odot$ yr$^{-1}$), reinforcing the previous claim on the suppressed star-formation activity in the CMZ. Our data also indicate that the strong "shoulder" CO$_2$ ice absorption at $15.4\ \mu$m observed in YSO candidates in the previous paper arises from CH$_3$OH-rich ice grains having a large CO$_2$ concentration [$N {\rm (CO_2)} / N {\rm (CH_3OH)} \approx 1/3$].